Lasers have been increasingly adopted as medical surgical tools. Optical fibers have are normally used to deliver laser energy during, for example, a laser surgery. As compared to traditional surgical tools, laser surgery can reduce bleeding, pain and infection. Additionally, patients often have less hospitalization time after laser surgery.
Laser energy may be less efficient than conventional electrical heating devices at stopping bleeding (coagulation), such as bleeding from incised blood vessels. Therefore, many surgeons will use a laser tool in some procedural steps, and a separate cauterization tool for other steps. Using multiple tools may complicate certain procedures, such as those performed in a relatively confined portion of the body, like an interior portion of a kidney. These complications may increase operating time and, thus, the cost of such procedures.